"Collections" refers broadly to the countless tools that creditors have at their disposal to acquire payment from debtors who are not paying what they owe. There are many Granville, Ohio laws and regulations concerning the conduct of collections agencies, and what they can and cannot do in order to collect.

What if I Am Owed Money in Granville, Ohio?

If someone owes you money and won't pay, you have several legal options to seek repayment of your debt. However, you need to be careful in this area. There are many rules and regulations detailing what debt collectors can and cannot do. Violating these laws, even inadvertently, can harm your chances at collecting, and maybe even expose you to civil penalties.

For example, it should go without mentioning that creditors are not allowed to use threatened or actual violence when attempting to collect. They are also not authorized to use abusive language to the debtor, or contact a third party about the debt.

What you can do, however, is send an invoice of the debt to the debtor, along with a firm (but civil) demand for timely payment. If the debt is considerable, you might also want to hire a collection agency in Granville, Ohio. You should make sure that any agency you hire is dependable, and has not been cited for violations of the rules governing collections.

What if Someone Is Trying to Collect Money Against Me in Granville, Ohio?

If you really owe the money being sought, and you are able to pay it, you should of course do so. If the collection caller is behaving courteously, you should do the same. Even if the caller doesn't behave in a polite manner, you should resist the urge to respond in kind, and ask to speak with a supervisor, or simply end the conversation. Whatever you do, you should never ignore the issue. This will not make the problem go away.

Luckily, you have some options in Granville, Ohio. First of all, you should try to directly contact the creditor, and see if some revised payment plan can be worked out. If this doesn't work, you can ask the collectors to stop contacting you by phone, and they will normally be obliged to do so. Of course, this doesn't make the debt go away, but it may give you some time to collect yourself and prepare a legal defense. Once this happens, the collection agency can only contact you to inform you that it intends to sue you for the debt owed.

If you have hired a lawyer in Granville, Ohio, they might advise that you apply for bankruptcy. Of course, whether or not this is a good idea depends strongly on the facts of your individual case, so you should not do so unless an attorney has reviewed the facts and determined that bankruptcy is a feasible solution.

How Can a Granville, Ohio Collections Attorney Help?

If you think that the collection agency is violating the law in its effort to collect, you should probably call a Granville, Ohio attorney, since such behavior on the part of the creditor may actually give you a claim for damages against it.

Also, if you are considering bankruptcy as an option, a seasoned Ohio attorney can help guide you through the process.